Park days

We have had beautiful, gorgeous fall weather! What better way to take advantage of it than to head out to the park with the kids and a picnic lunch? So today, that's what we did!

Mia loves to swing as much as her brother

Trying the slide

Luke taking our orders (playing restaurant)

Cute boy

Weee! And Luke is working on pumping - he's really close to being able to do it by himself, so stay tuned....

Three in a row down the slide!

Trick-or-Treat!

Our evening started out up at Day and Paw's house. We decided to head up there and surprise them in our costumes ... but apparently we really surprised them by coming pretty early (check out Paw's face ... and his load of laundry in his arms). Oops! Oh, well, we still scored on the candy!


I chose to be a train engineer this year. Well, actually, I suggested to Mommy that I be Thomas the Tank Engine, but she insisted that an engineer costume would be "cuter" than a cardboard or foam train around me. I suppose she was right.





I also picked Mia's costume this year (there probably won't be many years where she lets me do that!). Mommy was thinking that Mia would make an adorable ladybug, but when I spotted this costume while shopping at PBK with Mommy, I just knew Mia had to have it. I think she she was just about the cutest bumblebee I have ever seen!

After trick-or-treating at several houses in Day and Paw's neighborhood, we headed back home to visit some houses on our block. After about 3 houses, I had had enough. What I really wanted to do was run home and eat all my candy! But, much to my dismay, Mommy and Daddy said that we had to visit a few more neighbors and then that I needed to eat dinner before digging into my bag. What!?!

Our evening was topped off with a visit from some of my very favorite people, Debbie and Peter. They joined us for our annual Halloween comfort food dinner - what fun!

I'm already planning what I will dress up as next year....

Happy Halloween!

Love,
Luke

Mandala Halloween Carnival

Luke's school held a Halloween Carnival the morning before Halloween this year. It was fun spreading Halloween out a bit - letting the kids wear their costumes for more than just a few hours on Halloween eve.

So, early Saturday morning our Jr. Engineer and our littlest Bumble Bee suited up.

There was food (bagels with Halloween sprinkles and cheese puffs makes Luke's list of favorite breakfast foods) ,

crafts,


games, a few trick-or-treat doors,


and a costume parade (that Luke opted to "watch" instead of march in).


Fun was had by all, and Mom says "yay" for putting those costumes to use two days in a row!!!

Pumpkin Carving

For some unknown reason (perhaps the mess?), Daddy really does not enjoy this annual activity ... and from the looks of it, Luke may be following in his footsteps.

Luke was interested in carving pumpkins for, well, about 3 minutes this year. He was especially grossed out by the seeds and other fun stuff inside the pumpkins. In fact, I had trouble even getting him to tell me what kind of face that I should carve on his pumpkin!

He did, however, quite enjoy lighting the candles. Some things don't change (see last year's post).

Oh well, better luck next year ... Happy Halloween!

Oh, Percy ...

...let's snuggle.

**Note: Yes, this is a bathtub toy. Apparently Percy escaped from the bathroom after Luke's usual post-bedtime visit to the potty.

Queen of Hearts

Well, Luke's heart at least...

Jadyn, Luke's absolute favorite friend (they no longer go to school on the same days, but Luke still insists that she's his favorite friend at school ... even though they never see each other!), had a birthday party over the weekend. Lucky Luke was able to go and celebrate the big 4 with Jadyn.

Pump it Up was tons of fun, and as you can see, Luke also very much loved Jadyn's birthday cupcakes!

Fireman Luke

I often wonder how long this phase of loving to pretend will last. For now, Luke just adores pretending. He pretends all. day. long. Most of his pretend play doesn't require costume changes, but he does simply love dressing in his fireman outfit right now. In fact, I have even found his fireman jacket, helmet, and boots strewn across his room late at night ... a sure sign that he needed to fight a few fires before finally drifting off to sleep for the night.

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Our amazing Papa turned 80 years old last week. We went to Santa Barbara to celebrate with him over the weekend. We had a quick, but uneventful trip, and enjoyed every minute with a man who we are all so lucky to have.

Mia with Great Papa and Grandma

Luke's favorite part: the cake (obviously!)

Mom gave a beautful toast in honor of Papa

Mia is always up for a good party (we may be in trouble!)

Pumpkins 2010

My sweet pumpkins

We made a trip to the pumpkin patch over the weekend. We tried a new place in Santa Cruz since we were down that way to see Uncle Todd and pick up Brooklyn from him. It was a beautiful day, the patch overlooked the ocean, and they had an incredible assortment of unusual pumpkins, which was fun.

Getting a family picture was next to impossible ... and really sort of torture on this particular day. This was as good as it gets for today. Oh well!

Luke was particularly excited about the hay (or straw, or whatever it is)...
...and the farm equipment.

Mia was more intrigued with what her brother was doing than with the pumpkins (nothing new there, really)

Back home with our pumpkins